May 6, 2010
Courtney Miller
Eastern Lebanon County High School

Fixing Ethiopia

My topic is number three in the guideline, Change a scenario. The story we have chosen is Giorgis W., of Ethiopia. In his story, he talks about the damaged environment of Ethiopia because of the climate change. He says how more dangers are going to be coming because of the climate becoming worse and worse. Many people will die from shortage of food, clean air, and clean water. This is not just his country, all developed and developing nations of the world will face the problems. These are the words of Giorgis W. of Ethiopia, who is just one person voicing his opinions on the climate change problems of his country. These can be fixed with the idea of our groups climate change adaptation plan. I explain this in my letter to Giorgis. Dear Giorgis,I have read your story and I understand your struggles. My group and I have done much research on your country and I know that your issue of drought is horrific and severely damaging your country and the citizens who live there. You guys are put through struggles everyday that I couldn't even imagine going through. As a citizen of The United States of America, I would like to tell you about my groups plan. We have the idea of a climate adaptation plan that involves a desalination plant. A desalination plant is a process that takes water and removes salt and other minerals to make it pure, clean, and drinkable. Our plan involves setting up a desalination plant in Djibouti which has access to the ocean and the water from the plant would be shared between Ethiopia and Djibouti. This is one of the only ways to get you water because you are a land lock country and don't have access to an ocean. Djibouti is also a country that has trouble growing crops like fruits and vegetables due to their semi-desert area and scattered plateaus and most of their food is imported. Once your plant is set up and it is purifying the water, the water will be transported to all of your areas. This will be done by either means of trucks or by building underground water pipes that will transport it directly to any area. Sharing the plant with them will help both of you fix your countries. With the desalination plant that I've explained to you, you can drastically fix the problems you stated in your story. You were saying how the climate is destroying your country. Your climate problem is drought and the desalination plant is providing water that the drought is prohibiting your country from having. Since the drought is prohibiting your people from water, you have no success with growing your crops. You said how people are dieing and will die from shortage of food and clean water, our plant is here to solve this. With the desalination plant you will be getting the fresh water you need to survive. Along with that fresh water you will be able to regrow your crops. This plant will be solving your problems and saving your people. I feel that if your country could take this idea and get the help to use it, it would bring you great success. Thank you for telling your story and giving me the opportunity to respond and try and help. Sincerely, Courtney Miller